Billionaires Buy, Sell in Beverly Hills

Eric Smidt, chief executive of hardware retailer Harbor Freight Tools and No. 41 on the Business Journal’s list of the Wealthiest Angelenos, has sold a Beverly Hills estate for $39.9 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. Smidt’s not leaving town, though: He owns another Beverly Hills estate, known as the Knoll, once owned by oil and entertainment tycoon Marvin Davis. Meanwhile, another billionaire is moving in: Markus Persson, the Swedish creator of video game “Minecraft” who sold his company to Microsoft for $2.5 billion this year, just paid $70 million for a Beverly Hills mansion, according to the Times.